Vaccine mandate protesters in New York, August 2021. Photo: New York Times.
Supreme Court rejects move to block New York vaccine mandate | Politico - Shannon Young:
December 13, 2021 - "The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a request to block New York’s vaccination mandate for health care workers because it doesn't have a religious exemption. The court announced its ruling Monday afternoon in a brief, unsigned order. Three of the court's six conservative justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch — dissented, saying they would grant relief. Gov. Kathy Hochul lauded the court’s decision....
"More than a dozen medical professionals and We the Patriots USA, Inc. sued the Hochul administration over the mandate, which covers patient-facing staff in hospitals, nursing homes and other medical facilities. They asked the court last month to block the state from requiring those who were previously granted religious exemptions to get vaccinated or show proof of a medical exemption. A federal appeals court previously ruled that the mandate could move forward even though it did not allow for a religious exemption.
"Gorsuch wrote in his 14-page dissent that the health care workers who filed the suit and a companion case are not '"anti-vaxxers" who object to all vaccines,' but say they can’t receive a Covid-19 vaccine 'because their religion teaches them to oppose abortion in any form, and because each of the currently available vaccines has depended upon abortion-derived fetal cell lines in its production or testing'....
"Gorsuch also noted New York made changes to its mandate for health workers. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo promised limited religious exemptions in August, but the policy took effect in September without such an exemption under Hochul’s new administration.
"'Six weeks ago, this Court refused relief in a case involving Maine’s healthcare workers. Today, the Court repeats the mistake by turning away New York’s doctors and nurses,' he wrote. 'We do all this even though the state’s executive decree clearly interferes with the free exercise of religion — and does so seemingly based on nothing more than fear and anger at those who harbor unpopular religious beliefs.'"
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